1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio playback devices, and more particularly to an audio label such as may be affixed to consumer devices or the like to provide audio help in setting up or using such devices.
2. Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates, in block diagram form, an audio or musical greeting card 10 such as are known in the prior art. As with conventional greeting cards, the musical greeting card includes a body 12 which is typically made of stiff paper that is folded at one or more folds 14, and which may bear a pre-printed greeting such as xe2x80x9cHappy New Year!!xe2x80x9d or the like. The musical greeting card contains a memory in which is encoded digital data or other representation of the musical or audio greeting to be played, a codec for retrieving that data from the memory and converting it to an analog waveform which is supplied to an amplifier which amplifies the signal and provides it to a piezo-electric transducer or other suitable speaker mechanism for audible playback of the encoded tune or message. A battery provides electrical power for these operations. The playback is triggered by a hinge switch that activates in response to the card being folded open at the hinge.
Such an audio greeting card plays only the single pre-recorded message or tune, which has been programmed into the memory at manufacturing time. Also, the message or tune is played from its beginning upon activation of the hinge switch, and will either play to completion then stop, or will play repeatedly. Typically, play is aborted if the hinge switch detects that the card has been closed or folded shut.
Thus, there is no sequencing mechanism in such cards, to facilitate advancement from one audio tune or message to another, nor for rewinding from a present message to a prior message.
FIG. 2 illustrates, in block diagram form, a solid-state dictation recorder 20 or, alternatively, a similar device embodied as a child""s toy, such as are now available at toy stores. The recorder includes a battery for providing electrical power, a codec for performing audio encoding and decoding operations, a memory for storing dynamically recorded audio messages as encoded by the codec, a speaker (and in some cases an amplifier, not shown) for audio playback of such recorded messages, a microphone for inputting new audio messages to be recorded, and one or more controls such as a record button and a play button (and in the case of some dictation recorders, a rewind button and a fast-forward button).
Such dictation recorders record what amounts to a single audio message. They do so in a linear manner, albeit with the ability for the user to rewind and record over parts of a previously recorded message. Similarly, playback consists essentially of the linear playback of a single audio message, albeit with the ability to rewind or fast-forward, pause, and stop.
Such children""s toys lack even those abilities, and are only capable of recording a single message in a strictly linear manner; recording begins when the record button is pressed, continues while it remains depressed, then ends when it is released. Playback consists only of linear playback of the complete message, except if the play button is again pressed while the message is already playing, in which case the message will be immediately restarted from its beginning.